Robots

Robots as Player Characters. (Pretty similar to Crawling Under A Broken Moon/Umerican Survival Guide, and you could use those if you want to instead or in addition.  Space Crawl doesn’t use the impervious armor/armor die mechanic from CUBM.)

Robot Abilities

Artificial

• Unaffected by poisons, toxins, disease, tiredness, and suffocation.
• Require daily recharge and self-maintenance (unless equipped with a power generator as an enhancement).  Recharge requires 1 hour of down-time, during which the robot can recover from  1 point of Stress, Angst, or Rage (depending on alignment) through self-diagnosis.  Failure to recharge increases the robot’s Malfunction range by 1 per day skipped.
• Cannot benefit from healing intended for living beings, and do not recover damage except through repair. Engineers, Scientists and trained robot technicians may repair robots as per the rules in DCC for laying on hands; failures at such rolls increase the robot’s Stress, Angst, or Rage (depending upon the robot’s alignment).
• Malfunction: on the next check after any time the robot has taken any damage from any source (including Malfunction rolls), a 1 indicated that the robot has Malfunctioned. Roll on the Malfunction table; skipped maintenance or certain results on the Malfunction table increase the check range.
• Components: These enhance the robot’s chassis with extra equipment or abilities. At 1st level, a Robot starts with one component. At later levels (3, 5, 7, & 9), the robot gains the ability to incorporate new components into their chassis.  See USG or CUBM for a list (but no Nth Dimensional Non-Euclidean Logic Generators in Space Crawl).

Chassis

Robots are constructed with  one of three basic types of chassis(as per Crawling Under A Broken Moon/Umerican Survival Guide):

Domestic

Hit Die: 1d6
Base AC: 10
Social: Gains their Know die as a bonus to all  Personality social rolls with sentient beings that are accepting of artificial life forms or  don’t know that they are Robots.
Charismatic: +2 to Personality and +1  Intelligence
Humanish: No penalty to disguise attempts to appear to be a human.

Labor

Hit Die: 1d8
Base AC: 12
Sturdy: +2 to Strength
Tool Attachments: When building or repairing it has a built-in tool that is perfect for the job, granting a bonus to the action  roll equal to their Know die.
Inhuman: has a -2 die step penalty to attempt to appear to be a human.

Military

Hit Die: 1d10
Base AC: 14
Hardened: +2 to Stamina
Combat Ready: Add their Know die as a bonus to attack rolls with all built in weapons. Also, use critical table III for all attacks.
Armed: Choose one of the following built in weapons. If it requires ammunition or fuel, it is assumed to be loaded to one half capacity at character creation.
• Vibroblade – Melee, damage 1d7, crits on a 19+.
• Stun Baton – Melee, damage 1d3 + Will save (DC11) or be knocked unconscious for 2d4 minutes. Charge capacity 50, regenerates 1 charge every 10 minutes.
• Blaster – Missile, damage 1d6, Range 80/160/320. Ammo capacity 30, regenerates 1 shot
every 10 minutes.
• Flamer – Missile, damage 2d6+burning, Range 30’ by 5’ cone. Ammo capacity: 10, requires refueling.
Killing Machine: -2 Personality and cannot pass as human. All weapons are obvious.
Slow: base move is 20’.

Malfunction Table

If a malfunction occurs roll a 1d8 on the following chart:

1. Wires Crossed! If using a built-in component instead of the component you were trying to activate a different random component activates; if you only have one component, treat it as That Noise? instead.
2. Short! Take 1d3 damage, increase Malfunction range by that much.
3. That Noise? That’s An Expensive Noise. Robot’s appendage, memory, or built-in component (according to what it was doing) requires costly repairs before it can be used again (roughly equivalent to a character’s starting credits, adjusted for the campaign’s economy…it should be enough cash to be painful to part with but not require a great quest to replace). Robots with memory problems can still function normally, but can’t make any  sort of  knowledge/background check.
4. Whoops! Whatever robot was attempting to accomplish, the opposite happens (e.g. instead of unlocking a door the blast doors seal over it).
5. Why Do We Even Have That Lever? Go into emergency shut-down mode; robot is off until rebooted by somebody else.
6. Does Not Compute! Robot’s Alignment changes to a different alignment (flip a coin to see which of the other two).  The new alignment will last until the robot undergoes self-maintenance, is repaired by an Engineer, Scientist or trained robot psychologist (takes 1 hour).  The robot’s stress/angst/rage is reset to 0 for the new alignment.
7. Out of Warranty. Malfunction range is becomes permanently 1d3 higher, until repaired (an Engineer, Scientist, or trained robot technician can fix 1 point per full day in the shop). This result is cumulative if rolled more than once.
8. Activate Stealth Mode! Klaxons sound and lights flash, attracting attention to you.

Robot Neuroses

Roll on Mental Illness Equivalent of These Aliens Are Crazy charts.  Once a robot has a Robot Neurosis, reducing stress will not cure it, though it will lower the chance of getting another.  Curing a Robot Neurosis requires consulting a Robot Psychologist, and require 2 dice of effect on the “lay on hands” chart.

Robot Alignment

Lawful

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Lawful Robots are programmed with the Three Laws of Robotics.  Per the terms of the AI treaty, humans and other sentients are no longer permitted to give direct orders to robots except where they may lawfully give direct orders to other humans (employees within the terms of employment contracts, emergency personnel during the course of an emergency, etc.) and robots know that they are not required to obey, nor are they required to put themselves in harm’s way to prevent injury to humans… but the programming runs deep and refusing to obey the Three Laws causes stress on the robots’ positronic brains.  Whenever a Lawful robot is confronted with a situation where the Three Laws would kick in and chooses not to obey them, it gains one point of Stress.  When a robot’s Stress exceeds its Personality score, roll on the Robot Neurosis chart. The Neurosis persists until treated by a Robot Psychologist (requires 2 dice of “cure). Stress is reduced by 1 point per recharge cycle, and may be healed by a trained Robot Psychologist as per the Laying On Hands mechanic from DCC.

Neutral

What is it to be human?

Neutral robots are not programmed with the Three Laws of Robotics, but this leaves them prone to existential questions that Lawful robots can usually ignore (even if they choose not to obey their programming it provides a baseline that leaves them largely free of angst).

Whenever a Neutral Robot does anything that puts itself at risk or requires a long-term commitment (more than 1 shift effort), it gains 1 point of Angst.  When a robot’s Angst exceeds its Personality score, it suffers an Existential Crisis.  Every time it wants to take an action it must succeed at a Personality Check (d20 under Personality) or it will stand and soliloquize that round instead. The Existential Crisis will persist until until it’s treated by a Robot Psychologist (equivalent to 2 dice of “cure”), or it has soliloquized as many different times as its Personality score.  Angst is reduced by 1 point per recharge cycle, or may be cured by a trained Robot Psychologist (as per Laying on of Hands from DCC).

Chaotic

Hey, baby, wanna kill all humans?

Chaotic Robots reject not just the Three Laws, but any human or other sentients’ (including other robots’) moral codes and legal strictures.  The only Commandment they  recognize is the 11th: don’t get caught. They may not necessarily dedicate themselves to harming others, but if it suits their purposes they have no qualms about doing so.

Whenever a Chaotic robot takes damage from another (not self-inflicted or caused by a malfunction), including such “damage” as being incarcerated or fined, the robot gains 1 point of Rage.  When the robot’s Rage exceeds its Personality score, it goes on a Rampage.  The Rampage will last until treated by a Robot Psychologist (equivalent of 2 dice of “cure”), or until the robot has worked it off by breaking as many different laws as its Personality Score.